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[Opinions] Choose a Finnish middle name
After saying we weren't going to change her name when it comes to registering our daughter here in Finland, DP is reconsidering our choice of her Finnish middle name as we have heard how it's pronounced properly and it's not as pretty as when we say it, so which do you prefer.Inari means lake
Lumi means snow
Niemi means harbour or bay and is part of the name of the area we live in.Calla Rain Inari (EE-nar-ee) Caps are where the stress in the word is placed
Calla Rain Lumi (LOO-mee)
Calla Rain Niemi (NYEM-ee)

This message was edited 8/31/2010, 11:22 AM

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Niemi sounds too much like part of a surname. I've met quiet a few Finns with this in their surname, so it might be pretty, but I'd never consider it a given name. Lumi is uncommon (and considered odd, if I understand correctly), and I've never heard of Inari used as a name, ever. It's a shame, because I've heard so many in-use Finnish names which are beautiful, and these aren't -really- Finnish names, but more Finnish -words-, hm? Still, slightly odd as these names seem to me (with my student's Finnish and less than a year in the country, lack of Finnish blood and all that), I'd say Lumi. It's the only one which I've ever heard of being used as a name. Admittedly, it was a friend of a friend's possibly fictional cousin, and another friend's dog who were bearers of this name, but it's the nicest meaning and the most realistic.Then again, you could be the most knowledgable person on this subject, which I really am NOT. This is just my shallow opinion on the matter :P
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Yeah, I don't think I have ever seen Niemi as a given name. I've only ever seen it as a surname. It's on this list too on this Finnish name site:
http://www.sci.fi/~kajun/finns/alllast.htm
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You obviously have more knowledge than I. I've only been in the country for 4 months, have very little Finnish and no Finnish blood.I have met one Lumi (around 2) and one Inari (around 10) but I haven't met many people. Niemi is more of a place/surname and as it's an honouring name for her Finnish birth I'm not terribly worried how often it's used as a name as we won't use it unless we stay for a long time and she finds Calla is too hard for the locals to understand. But no one's had a problem yet as there have Calla lilies here as well. So it's more of a matter of how much we like the name and how it fits with the rest of her name. Thanks for the comments.
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I prefer Inari. It's prettiest IMO and goes the best with Calla Rain.
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I think they are all lovely, but my favorite would be Calla Rain Niemi.I really like Niemi, I have never heard it before.I love your choice of Calla by the way.
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Calla Rain Inari gets my vote, Not only do I like Inari better than the others, this combos has better flow, imo.
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I like all of them, especially Lumi and Inari. I would go with Calla Rain Lumi
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Calla Rain Inari gets my vote. There's just something schizophrenic about using both rain and snow in a name. Lakes and harbours make more mental sense to me. I could have wished for the stress to fall on the second syllable of either Inari or Niemi. But I don't get to tell an entire nation how to pronounce their words / names, lol. I have a thing for feminine "i" names so Inari is my choice.

This message was edited 8/31/2010, 11:29 AM

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That's our problem with Inari as well
I thought it was pn ee-NAR-ee but was corrected by my midwife today. I mentioned the snow/rain thing to DP and he said he liked the idea of one MN for Scotland and one for Finland. Not sure I'm sold, but I do like the name Lumi.
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Is Rain, as a name, particulary Scottish? Or is it the two different weather patterns of the two contries that your dh is referring to? Just curious. (I kind of like his thinking now, if it's the latter.)
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weather
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Lumi is the one I like best, but I was also glitching over both "rain" and "snow" in the same name. *However*, honoring the climates of the two heritage countires does make sense to me. I'll have to file this for future reference...if one wants to honor but does not care for the names of the honorees or any variants, or the meanings or any synomynous names, try the weather. :)
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